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The Druid King Fights ‘English Heretics’ At Stonehenge

By on September 22, 2014 in News 2

ArthurPendragonStonehengeSummerSolstice2010The autumnal equinox is upon us and the Wall Street Journal recognizes it with one of those quirky human interest stories that makes someone look like a total lunatic, this time giving the treatment to Arthur Pendragon, Druid King of Britain:

SALISBURY, England—Over a cup of coffee at a recent meeting of the Round Table, the managers of Stonehenge learned that King Arthur Pendragon, the Chosen Chief of the Loyal Arthurian Warband Druid order, was preparing his warriors for battle.

At stake: free parking.

For years, Mr. Pendragon, Druid King of Britain, has parked his ancient Kawasaki motorbike on a dirt track just off the A303 highway and walked the short distance across a field to conduct ceremonies at this ancient stone circle.

Now, English Heritage, the government unit that manages the site and other landmark buildings and monuments, wants to stop him and others from parking so close to the stones.

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President Obama at Stonehenge

By on September 6, 2014 in News 14

The White House is plugging President Obama’s visit to Stonehenge in England with this video:

His spoken thoughts aren’t exactly profound: “these are some special stones … I love the moss … there’s something here, that’s wonderful, this is very cool, there just something elemental about it, there’s something where you kind of feel like it should always be there, that it comes out of something basic.”

Regardless of his rather pointed lack of curiosity as to the purpose of the megalithic site, no doubt this will massively boost tourism to England. May we suggest, Mr. President, that when you get back you check out the modern-day American Stonehenge, the Georgia Guidestones, and give a similar boost to our stagnant economy?

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What Lies Beneath Stonehenge?

By on August 28, 2014 in Mystery 9

via The Smithsonian:

We walked the Avenue, the ancient route along which the stones were first dragged from the River Avon. For centuries, this was the formal path to the great henge, but now the only hint of its existence was an indentation or two in the tall grass. It was a fine English summer’s day, with thin, fast clouds above, and as we passed through fields dotted with buttercups and daisies, cows and sheep, we could have been hikers anywhere, were it not for the ghostly monument in the near distance.

Faint as the Avenue was, Vince Gaffney hustled along as if it were illuminated by runway lights. A short, sprightly archaeologist of 56, from Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England, he knows this landscape as well as anyone alive: has walked it, breathed it, studied it for uncounted hours. He has not lost his sense of wonder.

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Graham Hancock Breaks the Set on TED Censorship, Lost Civilizations & War on Consciousness

By on June 30, 2014 in News 9

Abby Martin interviews author and philosopher, Graham Hancock, about the mysteries of ancient civilization, hidden societies from the past, censorship by TED Talks and the difficulty in getting these ideas accepted by mainstream archaeologists and historians.

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Was Stonehenge A Giant Musical Instrument?

By on June 20, 2014 in News 4

I’m starting to wonder if maybe the ancients left stonehenge around just to mess with us.

Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge. Photo: Andrew Dunn (CC)

Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge. Photo: Andrew Dunn (CC)

Before dawn Saturday, thousands of revelers will again gather among the monoliths at Stonehenge to sing, bang drums and frolic beneath a solstice sunrise.

Theories surrounding the monument’s intended purpose — temple? observatory? big sundial? — go in and out of fashion. But this year, the partygoers will show up outside Salisbury, England, with fresh evidence that the site was always intended to host such shenanigans.

Specifically, making loud rock music.

Researchers from the Royal College of Art in London have found that some of the monument’s rocks possess unusual acoustic properties; when struck, they make a loud, clanging noise. Perhaps, they say, this explains why these particular rocks were chosen and hauled from nearly 200 miles away — a significant technical feat some 4,000 years ago.

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Was Stonehenge A Site Of Ancient Mass-Hedonism Festivals?

By on March 11, 2013 in News 27

Is Stonehenge far less lofty than previously believed? Phys.org reports:

British researchers on Saturday unveiled a new theory saying Stonehenge was originally a graveyard and venue for mass celebrations. The findings would overturn the long-held belief that the ancient stone circle was created as an astronomical calendar or observatory.

A team of archaeologists led by Professor Mike Parker Pearson of University College London carried out a decade of research which included excavations, laboratory work and the analysis of 63 sets of ancient human remains. They said the original Stonehenge Appeared to have been a graveyard built around 3000 BC. Analysis of cattle teeth from 80,000 animal bones excavated from the site also suggest that around 2500 BC, Stonehenge was the site of vast communal feasts.

“People came with their animals to feast at Stonehenge from all corners of Britain—as far afield as Scotland,” Parker Pearson said—the “only time in prehistory that the people of Britain were unified.”

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5,500-Year-Old Tomb Found Beneath Swedish Stonehenge

By on October 22, 2012 in News 3

Would you dare to tamper with the burial chamber of the mythic King Ale the Strong? Via Live Science:

A 5,500-year-old tomb possibly belonging to a Stone Age chieftain has been unearthed at a megalithic monument in the shape of a ship called the Ale’s Stenar (Ale’s Stones). The tomb, in Sweden, was likely robbed of stones to build the Viking-era ship monument.

Perched on a seaside cliff in the village of Kåseberga stands the Ales Stenar, also called Ale’s Stones, 59 massive boulders arranged in the 220-foot (67-meter)-long outline of a ship. Most researchers believe the 1,400-year-old ship structure is a burial monument built toward the end of Sweden’s Iron Age. Local legend has it that the mythic King Ale lies beneath the site.

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2,300-Year-Old Towers May Be The Peruvian Stonehenge

By on August 28, 2012 in News 0

The Daily Grail on the meaning of a mysterious, ancient marvel sitting in the South American desert:

In the coastal desert of Peru lies a strange structure consisting of what appears to be a fort atop a hill, but with a vertebrae-like line of 13 towers constructed on a raised area to its south-east.

The fort is odd from a military point of view because it would have been almost impossible to defend: it has numerous entrances and no source of water inside. Then there are the towers, which are several hundred metres from the hilltop fort, lie in a straight line and serve no discernible defensive role.

So archaeologists put forward a new interpretation…the site may have been a place of worship and a solar observatory, like Stonehenge, rather than a fort. Their main evidence was that the towers line up with the sunrise on important dates such as summer and winter solstice.

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Summer Solstice Celebrations Turn Violent At Stonehenge

By on June 21, 2011 in News 25
Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge. Photo: Andrew Dunn (CC)

Summer Solstice Sunrise over Stonehenge. Photo: Andrew Dunn (CC)

Today marks the summer solstice – the day of the year when the Earth’s and the moon’s axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun. It’s a day of celebration around the world, as exemplified by the English at Stonehenge, where Steven Morris reports for the Guardian that the usual mix of pagans and partiers are in attendance:

The summer solstice is meant to be a night and dawn of peace, love and amazement. But not all of those attending the celebrations at Stonehenge entered into the spirit of the event.

Druids, pagans and revellers watched as two men, one shirtless, staged a fist fight at the ancient monument in Wiltshire.

While the majority of the 18,000 people who attended the solstice celebrations were well-behaved, 20 arrests and almost 50 drug seizures were made.

Photographer David Hedges, who witnessed the fight, said: “They were sparring for a few minutes before they really started throwing punches.”

Spectators surrounded the pair and a couple tried to break it up before the police arrived.

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